Naruto: Death and Beyond
by CrashLanded
Summary: The Will Of Fire will never die, even as death has removed all the Elemental Countries from the World. Uzumaki Naruto has risen once again. NarutoxBleach Pilot chapter


A Bleach/Naruto crossover that I had been planning for quite sometime. This is only a pilot chapter. I'll be writing more once I finish my ongoing fic The Timeless Man.

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Disclaimer: Naruto is copyright of Masahi Kishimoto and Shueisha Inc. Bleach is copyright of Kubo Tite. I own none of the characters that appear in this story except for those that I create.

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Time.

Time. It always keeps flowing, never stopping, never waiting.

But for the one small shard of crystal it had stopped. Time held no meaning for it, for it had been so for hundreds, or maybe thousands of years.

It only knew that once it was only a small particle, which had dispersed from The Cleansing. What The Cleansing was though, it did not seem to remember. What mattered was that it did not want to disappear. It held on to what it had and collected what was around it.

Memories. Good, bad, happy, sad. All its memories. All 'his' memories.

No one knows how long the crystal floated through the ether, but now it knew its time had come. Condensation had increased and it was growing bigger. Memories were returning. Soon 'he' would be born again.

The once transparent Crystal of Memories now glowed with a golden blue light, illuminating the ever dark ether, which further accelerated the condensation.

Then the question came to it, who was 'he'?

The answer was not forthcoming, but it decided to wait. It would have the answer eventually. It would be patient, even though the memories said 'he' was not much of a patient person.

Another question came up, where was 'it'?

The answer came in bits and pieces. Life and Death. The Cleansing and Rebirth. It didn't make sense at first. Then as more mass congealed itself to the crystal it became clearer. 'He' had died and passed through The Cleansing, which was supposed to clean off the old memories so that he could go back to the Cycle of Life and Death. But somehow, his will had endured being torn off from his memories and waited (even though patience was not his virtue) for something that would allow him to reappear.

Unknown to it, changes had occurred to the Cycle itself, bringing forth another dimension into existence, a Second Life. One that its inhabitants called Soul Society. Strange though, the protectors called themselves Shinigami. Where one existed, now existed thousands.

But when once piece breaks off from nothingness, it creates a negative, an opposite, which got the name, Hollow. Creation of Soul Society was a consequence of such powerful entities, and so was the creation of Hueco Mundo, a safe haven for hollows and a buffer between Life and Afterlife.

This had been the trigger that had accelerated the condensation of memories into the crystal whose glow had gotten brighter. It was now opaque, and was growing at a very fast rate. But still, it was hundreds of years before the memories would gather, and 'he' would be born again.

At least 'he' now had a name, something to call him by. It was strange, as it brought with itself a feeling of a light breeze and a faint smell of sakura blossoms.

"Uzumaki."

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Everything was blank as he came to. He did not know if it was dark or light. He could not hear anything, nor could he feel. He panicked at that, and then the idea came to him, calming him as well as frightening him. Oh yeah, he was dead. He had died fighting someone, but who, he could not remember. Not that it mattered anyway. He was dead and that was enough.

As he began gathering his thoughts, he remembered something else. His instincts were telling him that thousands of years had passed, though he was at a loss to explain how it had happened, nor what he had been doing all this time. All he knew was that he was lying on a hard surface with the same smell of sakura and a faint breeze that was associated with a name.

"Uzumaki." he said in a whisper and the silence collapsed.

It was as if a blanket had been lifted from his senses. He heard a faint sound of breathing and a slight smell of sandalwood and flowers. Which flowers? He didn't seem to remember.

"Urrrgghhh", he tried to speak, but his voice had betrayed him.

He felt weight shifting on his chest before it lifted completely. He heard footsteps running away. It was a child, as the soft footfalls and hurried noises told him. Around ten years maybe, he deduced from the height he thought the child must have been of. The legs would have to be pretty small for such a child to run at that speed. The noises also told him one more thing, the floor was wooden.

He slowly opened his eyes, afraid that the light might hurt them. He needn't have bothered, for the room was darkened. He couldn't move his head, but it was okay, as he was only interested in seeing if his conclusions were correct. He was not at a hospital, not with the old wooden ceiling and wall panels. It looked an old house, one which had seen its fair days, as the wallpaper was peeling and cracks were visible on the ceiling. Somehow, he got the feeling that it was inhabited by adults as well. There was a kind of tidyness and warmth in the room that was present only in homes with families.

His suspicions were confirmed as he heard heard the child running back in with heavier sounding footfalls. He also heard voices coming from outside the room.

"This better be true Akane or..."

"C'mon ji-chan, I'm not lying, he really woke up."

So the child's name was Akane, and apparently it was a girl, as both her voice and name pointed to the fact. The other person was old, judging from his deeper tone and his way of walking, which was slow and laboured.

They were talking about him, but how was it possible? He was dead, or was it one of those strange tortures the Shinigami was putting him through for all his sins? He could not have survived, he was sure of that. Anyway it was better to let it be over with, thinking was a waste of time.

He heard a wooden door slide open and felt a person come in. As the person came up to him, he felt a slight dread coming up his chest. What if it was one of those monsters that were supposed to live in the Shinigami's stomach? And he could not move an inch of his body except for his eyes and mouth.

"Ahh, so he really is awake, eh?"

"I told you so jiji."

He hazarded a glance to the side and saw an old man and child sitting by his side, silhouetted by the light from the doorway.

"I suppose you are thinking where you are and who we are, are we right young man?" the old man's voice was friendly and gentle.

"Hmm." He made a noise in approval. His fear had subsided and he was eager to know where the hell had he landed.

"Well, to put it simply, you are dead and this is the afterlife."

He thought it was a joke, but the man's expression was serious, so maybe it was all right.

"Well, you aren't going to scream or freak out?"

"No." He was surprised to see that he could speak. He had been thinking that he could not speak, and he sighed in relief.

"Good for you then, now as I was saying, this is the afterlife and we call it Soul Society." the old man paused.

"Mhmm."

"We are dead too, Akane and I... ah, I forgot to introduce myself. This girl here is Akane and I'm Tohru."

"I'm..."

"Can't remember your name, kiddo? Don't worry, it'll come, you're weak from death. It'll be some time before..."

"Naruto."

"Huh?"

"That's my name."

"Oh, all right. Now remember, you are weak at this moment so don't try to get up and..."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The old man stopped and looked at his face. Naruto had a faraway look in his eyes.

"Come on Akane, the young man needs his rest." the old man softly whispered to the child.

"But ji-chan..."

He simply pulled the girl out of the room and closed the door.

"Uzumaki Naruto eh? It's a nice name."

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End file.
